Cutting flower costs

Trixsie1989

Hi all,

I'm trying to sort out my bridesmaids flowers atm but struggling. I'm after calla lily bouquets which I understand are quite expensive but I didn't think they'd be £60 a pop. Really want the girls to have real flowers so I can put them on graves after but I can't justify paying that much. Any ideas on how to bring it down? Xxx

Stephb1986_2

How about carrying a singular Calla Lilly or try your local college floristry department that is where I'm getting mine from

Steph x

Trixsie1989

How did you find out about the college floristry department steph? I've just seen some photos of 3 stem bouquets and they look beautiful. I might be better off buying a gift arrangement and splitting it than having proper bouquets can't believe the price difference for the same thing! Xxx

Stephb1986_2

To begin with the flowers for my nan and grandads funeral from the local college.

When I was looking for wedding flowers I looked on the college website the one we got the funeral flowers from was rather expensive so looked at the other college close to me and made an appointment they came up cheapest and worked within my budget

Relocationrelocation

We made a bouquet for my friend whose wedding was on a budget. We simply bought a load of flowers then tied them tightly with several layers of thick ribbon and secured with glue and those pearl pics. Looked lovely and stayed in all day. I am sure there's a YouTube video on how to make your own bouquet. For my own wedding I went to my local market and bought loads of gerberas and daffs for vases on the tables, they looked really simple and elegant, and cost a tiny fraction of what a florist would have charged.

Relocationrelocation

Sorry I meant pearl pins not pics.

DigForVictory

If you can't get real calla lilies affordably, will the graves mind fakes?

It's a *beautiful* part of your wedding plan to include them, but the occupants would want to think of you happy & not stressed & in debt over a flower they can't touch or smell anyway.

I'd hope the bridesmaids understood that too. Why not *all* of you have really lovely fake lily bouquets on the day and put the different towards the honeymoon, with the generosity of the graves?

piglet25

Just a word of warning about the idea of splitting a gift bouquet up, or indeed making your own calla lily bouquets up, calla lily flowers seep out at the cut, and require sealing or there will be a snot like substance trailing over the bridesmaids hands and dresses :O If you are hoping to cut the cost of them, ask the florist to use calla BLUSH which is the lower priced lily, and ask for the three stem bouquets tied with ribbon from base to neck and maybe a small buckle on the middle of the ribboning. I would charge roughly £25 for one of those so use that as a ball park figure when shopping around xx